How do I use the Analysis Board?
When analyzing your own games, it's easy to just open the game and click 'analysis.' But what if you want to analyze a made up position, or a game from somewhere else? With the analysis board, you can analyze any game, opening, or any position at all!
To open the analysis board, hover over 'learn' or the 'learn' icon and then click 'analysis'
This will open the analysis board! And there are several options for how to use it:
From here, you can simply move pieces on the board as if playing a game to get to any position you want. You can see the computer evaluation on the left will update for each move.
Or, Load a FEN or PGN of a game you want to analyze. Click here to learn more about PGNs and FENs
Load Previous Analysis will open whatever you were last analyzing, whether it was a game, opening, or a custom position.
The Details tab will tell you the details of any game you have loaded (the players, the result, etc) and the Openings tab will take you to Openings section of the game explorer.
The Setup option contains the most use on the analysis board. Let's take a look!
Setup
Once you click 'setup' you'll get a new menu next to the board:
You will now be able to drag pieces anywhere you like on the board, or remove them by dragging them off the board to the right. You can set the board up any way you like by adding, moving, or removing pieces. Beware, though, that impossible positions such as multiple kings can cause the computer analysis to be inaccurate or freeze up.
Below the pieces menu, you have the option to select whose turn it is in the drop-down, you can also flip the board, or reset the board to starting position, or trash all the pieces and get an empty board.
The O-O and O-O-O check-boxes let the computer know if white and black have the right to castle or not. A check in the box means yes, they can castle this way.
Below castling are text boxes for FEN and PGN to be pasted into. After pasting, click Load to load the position.
Once the board is loaded you'll be able to see the computer's lines, or click on 'run report' to see further analysis!
You can also click 'practice versus computer' on the very bottom and play the position against the computer!
If the information in this article is out of date or incorrect, or if you have questions about it, please let us know!